maximum fares for rank and hail taxi services across NSW to apply from 1 July 2018, and

the number of new taxi licences (other than licences for wheelchair accessible taxis) to be issued in areas outside Sydney from 1 July 2018.

We submitted our Final Report to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure on 9 March 2018.

On 10 April 2018 Transport for NSW (TfNSW) announced that it had determined that 90 taxi licences will be issued in Sydney from July, but no new licences will be added to regional areas, Newcastle, Wollongong or the Central Coast, for the time being.

The Government has changed the way it regulates point to point transport services. A new regulatory framework commenced on 1 November 2017.

Under the new rules:

Rank and hail trips in a taxi will still be subject to maximum authorised fares, determined by Transport for NSW.

Booked trips in a taxi will no longer be subject to maximum authorised fares.

The new framework also requires Transport for NSW to decide how many new annual taxi licences will be issued each year. This will extend existing licensing arrangements for Sydney to all other parts of the state.

Who

This review affects people who:

may use taxi services, and

are involved in providing taxi services.

It could also affect people who own taxi licences.

How

The first step in our approach for this review was to assess the current level of competition in the market for rank and hail services across NSW. We developed an assessment framework and applied it to a range of evidence about:

market share held by taxi services and other point to point services,

taxi licence values,

passenger demand for rank and hail services, and

the availability of alternative point to point transport options.

We also had regard to other matters including the cost of providing the services and the demand for new taxi licences.